News of: Sunday, 5th of September, 2010

Front Page

The first part of a mostly elevated metro rail system in the capital will be built mainly over government land and existing roads, based on a Japanese study, said Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain.

Tears rolled down her cheeks and emotion gripped the audience as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina narrated the massacre at Dhanmondi-32 and unkind behaviour of a government after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975.

A countrywide sample survey targeting 512 schools found shabby buildings, noisy environment and surroundings posing threat to mental health of students to be common features of most of the institutions.

Representatives of the Saarc member states in a two-day inter-governmental meeting that began yesterday have almost finalised the draft of 'Saarc Charter of Democracy', said Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes.

Apart from fear for lives, the family of Sakira Nasreen Mitu and Sanjida Nasrin Simu, the victims of stalking, is now facing financial crisis as their mother cannot run her music school at their Nikunja residence.

Whether or not she emerges as winner following recent elections, Australia's first woman prime minister will have led the nation's oldest political party to one of the lowest points in its 119-year history.

Editorial

There is something self-evident about the way a modern state conducts itself. It is that all citizens are equal before the law and, being equal, they enjoy all the amenities the state has to give them. At the same time, the state enjoins upon them all the responsibilities they must carry out in order for the state to work well. A particular responsibility of citizens is a payment of taxes. In Bangladesh, any citizen who earns more than Tk. 1,62,000 a year must pay taxes. In these last few years, a concerted drive has been made to convince citizens that they must not avoid such payment, that indeed it is a moral and legal duty to cough up the taxes their earnings make mandatory for them. While the system is yet to be perfect and foolproof, we notice that the culture of giving something back to the state is a lesson the larger body of citizens has been learning happily.

The initiative to set up a call centre to receive complaints related to stalking and provide legal aid in case of need, couldn't have come a day later. For, chasing and pestering young girls have assumed a menacing proportion. So much so that victims have even been driven to committing suicide sending shock waves across society lately.

Sports

The general perception on Abdur Razzak recently among the cricket fraternity has been that the left-arm spinner has lost his bite after his bowling action went through a change, but the bowler sees it quite differently.

Newly appointed football coach of Bangladesh national team Robert Rubcic will arrive in Dhaka on the 8th of this month. The 46-year old Croatian recently signed an online agreement with the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) while he will put pen on paper after landing here, said a press release from the federation yesterday.

Grandmasters Ziaur Rahman and Niaz Murshed earned 3.5 points each after the fifth round of the 7th IGB Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship at the CitiTel MidVally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

A friendly between world champions Spain and Argentina at the River Plate stadium on Tuesday (2000 GMT) could be the start of a new era in visits from high-profile teams with an eye on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Striker Karim Benzema, who missed France's 1-0 defeat by Belarus on Friday with an ankle injury, will be fit to face Bosnia in their next Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday in Sarajevo, coach Laurent Blanc said on Saturday.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters advanced to a fourth-round matchup with fellow former world number one Ana Ivanovic at the US Open on Friday while third seed Venus Williams also rolled into the last 16.

England coach Andy Flower has suggested that Kevin Pietersen's omission from the Twenty20 and one-day squads for the remaining international games of Pakistan's tour was prompted by the batsman's recent dip in form, and that the break might allow Pietersen to find some self-belief playing county cricket for Surrey ahead of a five-Test Ashes series in Australia this winter.

Cricket's most lucrative club competition, the 6.5million-dollar Champions League Twenty20, begins in less than a week with organisers assuring "robust" anti-corruption and security measures. It will be the first multi-nation tournament to be held following the News of the World sting operation that led to the ICC's first-ever use of its provisional suspension clause to suspend the three Pakistan cricketers suspected of spot-fixing.

An expected surge in supply of premium hotel rooms may take the sheen off Indian hotel firms' plans to raise tariffs and revive profitability, though analysts expect the second half to fare better than the first.

Global dependency on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries for crude oil will rise in the next five to 10 years as output by non-Opec nations falls, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Friday.

Brazil's Petrobras unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings Friday, a sale of up to 64 billion dollars in new stock to finance oil exploration aimed at turning Brazil into a leading oil exporter of the 21st century.

As part of the ongoing drive against the dishonest traders, the market monitoring teams yesterday fined 10 traders and realised Tk 110,500 as penalty on charge of selling sugar in excess of the price fixed by the government.

National

A child died at Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital on Friday while around 400 other children with pneumonia and cold related diseases have been admitted to different hospitals and health complexes in the district as the area now sees much fluctuation of temperature between day and night.

All activities in Barisal city remained at a complete standstill for ten minutes from 10:00am yesterday to press home the demand for starting classes at Barisal University from the current academic session.

Letters

Ensuring adequate nutrition for all is as important as ensuring the country's defence. The state shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition, and the improvement of public health, as among its primary duties. Food security depends mainly on domestic production of grain. We do not lack natural resources. Our potential is at least twice as much as we are currently producing. What we lack is political will. None of our politicians has ever set the target of achieving the full potential of our agriculture. Their thinking is still feudal. Agriculture and agriculturists are not their main concern. Management of the food economy should have two objectives; first, to increase grain production; and, second, to ensure its proper distribution. We have seen how our system has failed - both in the long run and the short term - to achieve higher productivity and production of grain. To sum up, the management of our food economy is in a mess. It is likely to worsen after the removal of quantitative restrictions on the import of farm products. To improve the situation, the government should take prompt and radical reform measures.

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Foundation announced plans to establish a 5,000 mile-long "genetic corridor" from Bhutan to Burma that would allow the tiger population to roam freely across landscapes. The corridor, first announced at the United Nations, would span eight countries and represent the largest block of tiger habitat left on earth.

Power crisis has always been a problem in Dhaka city. It has amplified greatly in recent times. Before, I had experienced that load shedding was occurring every four hours. Now the load shedding is taking place hourly. As the population in Dhaka is increasing the demand for electricity is also tremendously increasing day by day. As a student I have experienced what I feel like when there is no power in my house. I cannot study or sleep properly. I sometimes have to use a lamp. Even though we have IPS it cannot give backup forever. Due to power crisis the businessmen are facing problems as they have to close shops very quickly and when the power goes they have to use lamps or even torch lights to run their business. Industries also cannot generate the proper amount of production needed due to power crisis. CNG pumps cannot supply gas properly. CNG run vehicles have to come the next day to take gas. Due to this reason it causes tremendous traffic jam in the roads. When I get up in the morning and get ready to go to school, I see that on the road there is a huge queue of cars (at least a 100 metre long) waiting just to get gas for their cars. I think if the government can shift some main offices to another district, people will also be reallocated and the population in Dhaka city may also decrease.

Today it is very common among the young generation to throw bottles or other rubbish on the road, but the habit is very dangerous. Coconut sellers throw their waste products in the nearby corner . Still most people are unaware that disease spread from dirt. Malaria, typhoid and many other disease can be easily prevented by keeping the roads and houses clean .

DMCH is the premier health care provider for the poor people of this country and the neurosurgery department of DMCH is the busiest place of DMCH but this department is in a shambles. The patient care is very poor.

With reference to the debate about building a mosque near Ground Zero, Irfan Husain, a columnist for Karachi daily Dawn, touched the crux of the problem of religious intolerance in Pakistan when he recently wrote: "The sad reality is that non-Muslims in Pakistan live on sufferance, and it would be unthinkable for them to even dream of expanding their places of worship, let alone constructing new ones. A few years ago, I recall writing about the trials and tribulations of Christians trying to build a church in Islamabad despite having received official permission. They were bullied by a local mullah, and found no support from the city administration. Since then, things have got worse for the minorities."

Eid, the greatest religious festival of the Muslim community, is imminent. It is such a rare occasion of the year that the have's and have-not's remain in the same row on this day. Eid means endless joy and happiness. It's for all ages particularly for the kids who long for this dream-like event since Ramadan. It comes to us with the relish of unlimited entertainment. But what about the majority of the people who live hand to mouth? Most of them cannot get sufficient food let alone new clothes and other desirable things of Eid. The Eid day is all the same for them. Moreover, most of the rich distribute 'Zakat clothing' (some low quality costumes which to me serves nothing) to the poor community by killing them (!) which is rather ludicrous and against the spirit of the holy Eid. We need to realize that Islam doesn't allow such foolish activity as some think rather it is very simple and generous. In addition, most of the rich and intellectuals of our country do not know or do not want to know(!) (I am confused) that by proper distribution of Zakat system poverty can be reduced in a thousand times more effective way than any other means . We must keep in mind that zakat, fitra which are provided on the occasion of Eid are the right of the poor over the rich. That's why the rich are not permitted to grasp the due right of the poor or to distribute it flamboyantly or unsystematically which will serve nothing to the poor. However, Eid is for all irrespective of rich and poor. The prime aim and spirit of Eid is to share everything with others. For this reason, it is the religious and holy duty of every Muslim to pay zakat, fitra in an Islamic way to please Allah.

We remember some of her popular phrases she frequently used during her premiership of Bangladesh like; "Shadinota nosshatter cheshta cholchhey" meaning conspiracy is going on to destroy the independence of the country, "Ekti-mahal desh bikri kortey chai" meaning one group wants to sell out the country, "Unnoyoner joar dekhe vitu hoya ekti-mahal deshey orajajokata christri korchey" meaning seeing the wave of development of her government a certain group has become scared and trying to create anarchy in the country. She used the above phrases so many times that the people of Bangladesh have learnt them by heart and will not forget in the foreseeable future.

Col. Abu Taher was a valiant freedom fighter. He along with Gen. Manzur and Col. Ziauddin defected from the Pakistan Army in the then West Pakistan, they crossed the border and joined the war of liberation. He was rewarded for his valour and leadership qualities. Col. Taher lost one leg in the war and an artificial limb was attached. Later on, he left the Army and was working as the chief of the Dredger Corporation in Narayanganj. He also resigned from that job.

Bashabo is a large residential area under Sabujbag police station at south-east of Dhaka metropolis. It is a planned residential area built by the then Railway Diversion Division to rehabilitate the people affected by shifting of Dhaka railway station from Fulbaria to Kamalapur in the 1960's. At the beginning of the 70's all the roads were carpeted by the then Dhaka Municipality on demand of the local people. Thereafter, on peacemeal basis repair works were done in different times on different roads. But at present the condition of most of the roads are not suitable for traffic movement and not suitable for even pedestrians. Re-carpeting of all the roads is very much necessary.

On last Friday I was going to my village home by a CNG run auto rickshaw when it reached in front of Banshkhali police station a police van slightly hit it. Saying nothing, the driver of the police van came to beat the auto rickshaw driver with a big cane. He caught the driver and sent him to police station where he had been harassed for an hour. I tried to convince them that that was the fault of their driver but they didn't want to consider their mistake. Finally they permitted us go taking the address and vehicle no. When we were about to leave the room another police man came he took away Tk 300 putting his hand into the driver's pocket, he had earned on that day. At the moment we were helpless as the time for ifter was coming near I had to go a long way.

I was very shocked when I received an email that our classmate Ataur Rahman (40) left us forever. His permanent departure at this early age is heart breaking for his family. His two children will have to face hard reality while they grow up. We have lost our beloved Ata, the country has lost a devoted engineer.

If I, as a mere foreigner, may add my two-pennyworth to the debate on the traffic chaos, I must point out that most developed nations have found a way of allowing people to have cars but leave them at home for most journeys - by providing a good and safe transport system for commuting to work and getting the children to school. However, in that case, rather a lot of people might be persuaded to have no car at all - if only there were a reliable taxi service.

Your report on hammering heated nails on the body of a 49 year old Sri Lankan woman by her Saudi employer on August 29, 2010 is heart breaking. I wonder how a person in this age could have done such a thing. Probably the tortures inflicted upon her has surpassed the gruesome cruel stories we hear about the notorious prisons.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to inject urgency into Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Friday, warning the negotiations may be "the last chance for a very long time" to reach an agreement.

The United States' top military officer stressed yesterday the need for Turkey to help enforce United Nations sanctions against Iran aimed at deterring the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

A faster drilling machine was being assembled yesterday to enlarge an existing supply shaft to 33 Chilean trapped miners, as work on the main shaft continued and a special rescue cage was being built by the Navy.

Indonesia's smoking toddler has kicked the habit. Footage of 2-year-old Aldi Rizal who smoked up to two packs a day puffing away circulated the Internet in May and sparked an international outcry. His parents said he'd throw tantrums every time they tried to stop him from lighting up.

Arts & Entertainment

The recently concluded Love, Peace, Water Raasrang World Flute Festival in New Delhi was a reminder that music can transcend all geographical and linguistic barriers. On hand were flautists from countries like USA, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as artistes from various Indian states. Over a space of seven days, big names such as Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, James Galway, Steve Gorn and Ronu Majumdar, had the audience eating out of their hands.

A group art exhibition, featuring the works of Sanjib Saha, Mohammad Imam Hossain, Silvia Nazneen, Chandan Kumar Barman, Sonia Parvin, Shahida Parveen, Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed and Abu Bakar Siddique, is on at Zainul Gallery, Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA), University of Dhaka. The participating painters are students of the Drawing and Painting Department of FFA.

OP-ED

Amid widespread scepticism, the Palestinian and Israeli leaders started direct negotiations in Washington on September 2. Talks with Israel were suspended by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas when, on December 28, 2008, Israel mounted a brutal three-week long military assault on Gaza.

The most reassuring aspect of Tony Blair's just-released memoirs was evident in the Reuters photograph of a bookstore shelf stacked with copies on opening day. A red sticker on the hardback cover bore the legend: "Half Price." This is poetic justice. A man who sold lies to his nation has been peremptorily discounted by its public.

The most important distinguishing factor between a refugee and an internally displaced person (IDP) is cross border movement. Unlike refugees, who cross the international border for fear of persecution, IDPs do not cross a border. There is very limited legal protection offered to IDPs due to this unique context, as the state itself is the perpetrator of violence instead of providing protection to the IDPs. The United Nation's working definition of the internally displaced is, "…persons who have been forced to flee their home suddenly or unexpectedly in large numbers, as a result of armed conflict, internal strife, systematic violations of human rights or natural or man-made disasters, and who are within the territory of their own country."

The contemporary scenario of triangular manipulation is a manipulation by the dominant interest group -- the coalition of interests among "governing elites," "fortune seeking political entrepreneurs" and privileged business communities. Governing elites include both political leadership and bureaucracy. It is seen that governing elites expand various opportunities for economic concentration including rent-seeking ones. It ultimately aggravates the poverty situation threatening the legitimacy of the regime and increasing the probability of regime turn over.

The Constitution of Bangladesh has been brought under the microscope for the 15th time since 1972. With the annulment of the fifth amendment of the Constitution through a judgment by the Supreme Court this year, the Constitution is to revert to some of the core values behind the formation of the original 1972 version, whose four main pillars were democracy, socialism, nationalism and secularism.

Civil-military relations generate much debate and discussion in Bangladesh because of the ups and downs, turbulence and trepidations through which the relationship has passed over the last four decades. This debate goes on not only in Bangladesh, but also in the most developed countries of the world such as in the US, UK, and in our region in India and Pakistan. This relationship has often influenced domestic policies or its external relations, besides shaping the country's security structures. Now that we are once again consolidating our democratic polity, it is important to re-examine civil-military issues, identify shortfalls and recommend measures to build a strong, and vibrant relationship between the two important segments of the society. Before we venture further, it would be pertinent to examine the historical background.

For every hard-core football fan, of which there are many in Bangladesh, the summer months can be long and arduous. League season in Europe winds down with the Champions League final in May and unless you are an aficionado of the Icelandic or Russian leagues, June-August will most likely be spent in a state of hope/despair, depending on the performance of your chosen team in the corresponding season.